Short-billed
Dowitcher,
Limnodromus griseus

Distinguishing Short-billed from Long-billed Dowitchers is hard,
even when they are in fresh breeding plumage, as above, so that birders
prefer to distinguish the species by call (a mellow "tu-tu-tu" for
Short-billed, a high piercing "keek" for Long-billed) when they can.
This bird has the overall look on the upperparts that is familiar in
Long-billed: strongly contrasting white, black, and chestnut colors,
rather than the muted brown and buff more typical of Short-billed and
shown by the bird below. However it is a Short-billed, as an expert
pointed out to me. A feature that is diagnostic or nearly
so is an orange fringe of feather-tips on the breast and flanks, somewhat difficult to see, where
the same tips are white and conspicuous on Long-billed, as here. Another nearly diagnostic feature is spots rather than bars on
the side of the breast. A further persuasive mark is the v-shaped wing
coverts on the side; the white (sometimes chestnut) edges continue up
the side of the black centers, by contrast to Long-billed, where these
edges tend to be confined to the bottom of the feathers. Finally, the tips of
the primaries extend visibly beyond the end of the longest tertial,
though not beyond the white-barred central tail feather, another
supportive sign for Short-billed.

A note on spots and bars: both dowitcher species can have spots in the
center of the breast and bars on the flanks; it is only at the side of
the breast that the species are distinguished by spots for SB and bars
for LB. The boundary between the center and side of the breast can be
debatable, but in the bird above there are many spots and no bars at
all in the relevant area.

Special thanks to Alvaro Jaramillo for his help with questions of
dowitcher identification.

This dowitcher in fresh spring breeding plumage has the same
two marks of Short-billed, diagnostic or nearly so, as the bird above
it: spots (rather than bars) on the side of the breast, and orange
(rather than white) feather tips fringing breast and flank feathers. In
addition, this bird, by contrast to the one above it, has the
characteristic Short-billed muted pattern of brown and buff (rather
than black, white and chestnut) feathers on the wings and back.
Further, this bird shows a pronounced extension of the black tips of
the primaries beyond the tertials, forming a visible black spot at the
rear end. Finally this dowitcher has no spots on the central breast and
neck; all Long-billed Dowitcher have such spots. However, most
Short-billed of the the Pacific subspecies (caurinus) also have spots
in the central breast, as on the bird above this one. The clear breast
is typical of the Prairie/Atlantic subspecies (hendersoni), and it is
possible that this bird is an off-course hendersoni strayed to the
Pacific coast.

The large white patches on the bellies of most of this flock
of flying dowitchers in late April, when they are in breeding plumage,
is a strong indicator that they are Short-billed. The one bird with an
all-white belly is likely to be a first-cycle bird that will not breed
in its first summer.

This bird, in worn fall breeding plumage, shows a good
number of spots (rather than bars) on the side of the breast, a solid
mark for Short-billed. Many fall Long-billed have more of the dark
marks on their breast, belly and flanks worn off, producing a smooth
reddish surface over the whole underpart surface.

Above, a group of non-breeding dowitchers in flight, and
below, a single bird. In general, I can't distinguish the two species
by sight in their non-breeding plumage, and experts say that in most
cases they can't either. Both of these birds took flight in areas where
the dowitcher vocalizations I heard were all Short-billed "tu-tu-tu,"
but I can't exclude the possibility that the some of these birds might
be Long-billed.

Juvenile Short-billed Dowitchers, above and below; this is
the one dowitcher plumage that is easy to identify. Only Short-billed
juveniles have the "tiger-striped" tertials shown by both these birds;
the tertials of juvenile Long-billed are mostly entirely plain, and in
any case never striped or barred. Note that adult breeding plumage
dowitchers of both species have barred tertials, though usually in a
regular pattern rather than the wiggly lines and partial bars shown
here. These birds can be identified as juveniles by the relatively
unworn condition of their feathers, and the bright buff striping on the
upperparts. The bird below shows the relatively slender figure that is
characteristic of Short-billed as compared to the generally bulkier
look of Long-billed -- but this not a reliable identifying mark by
itself, as the chunky looking bird above illustrates. Note that both of
these birds show the characteristic (but not invariable) extension of
the dark primary tips beyond the ends of the tertials; this is a
helpful supporting mark in identifying Short-billed Dowitcher.